In the next several days, The Economist newsmagazine will make its 2012 presidential endorsement. Despite its mantra on free trade and free markets, in the past that icon of international business and politics has endorsed both Democrats (Bill Clinton in 1992, John Kerry in 2004) and Republicans (Ronald Reagan in 1980, Bob Dole in 1996 […]

What a difference a day makes. On Friday, conservative commentators reacted to the improving jobs picture by accusing the career civil servants at the Bureau of Labor Statistics of cooking the books for President Obama. But just the day before, the Republican stenographers at the Wall Street Journal, CNBC and other right-wing outlets declared modest […]

With his baseless claims that waterboarding enabled the killing of Osama Bin Laden and that the Obama administration drafted a memo to protect the President from blame if the mission failed, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey has emerged as the new go-to fabulist for Team Bush. Now with his latest Wall Street Journal op-ed "Will […]

At the Republican National Convention Tuesday night, Mitt Romney will stand behind a human shield: his wife Ann Romney. And with good reason. While his campaign still frets about his massive "empathy gap," the Republican nominee will deploy his warm, engaging and sympathetic wife as a proxy for the compassion and emotional connection to voters […]

During Mitt Romney's first run for the White House four years ago, his GOP rival Mike Huckabee warned that the former private equity CEO reminded voters of "the guy who laid them off." Now, with the growing imbroglio over his secret tax returns, labyrinthine overseas accounts and "I win even when they lose" Bain business […]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. That is, according the U.S. media, July 2012 was an excellent opportunity for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to showcase his human side at his $8 million lakeside estate in New Hampshire. But when then-Senator Barack Obama took time from the campaign in […]

In recent weeks, Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has tried to redefine the calendar by inserting the new milestone "AB"--or "After Bain"-- into the timeline of human history. Defending its man from damaging reports that he profited when Bain Capital invested in companies that shipped jobs overseas, extracted massive dividends and fees from firms that later […]

Despite the overwhelming consensus of legal scholars regarding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the United States Supreme Court seems poised to strike down all or part of President Obama's signature health care reform law. If so, that would be the culmination of a decades-long conservative campaign to stop universal coverage at all costs. […]

Admittedly, the young Barack Obama was a pothead and tried cocaine. Apparently, the young Mitt Romney was a bully who liked to pretend to be a cop, a firefighter and a gangster. But whether or not early Obama dabbled in dope or Romney was, well, a douchebag, doesn't really matter. Or, at least, doesn't matter […]

Earlier this month, Team Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul explained her candidate's rule for determining the fairness of press coverage of his Mormon faith. "Our test to see if a similar story would be written about others' religion," Saul declared, "is to substitute 'Jew' or 'Jewish.'" That revelation prompted Jeffrey Goldberg to ask, "What If Mitt […]